WEYMOUTH has just been soaked by its wettest October for nearly 30 years.

There was no sign of the deluge to come in the first half of the month when the town was actually much drier than normal, with less than a third of its usual rainfall.

But the second half of October produced downpour after downpour for an overall total of 140.2mm, or 81 per cent more than the usual monthly average of 77.4mm for the wettest October since 1976. The worst day was the 23rd when more than 34mm of rain fell, nearly an inch and half.

Overall rainfall for the year now stands at 530.7mm, which is 45.6mm below the 30-year average.

Sunshine levels were slightly above normal despite the frequently miserable conditions, up just over two hours with the sun shining on all but five days of the month.

Total sunshine for 2005 is now nearly 1,833 hours, nearly 215 hours above the 30-year average.

Winds were variable throughout the month with gusts of more than 20mph on most days, the strongest gust of 52mph coming on the 25th.

All temperatures were well above average for October with the maximum 2.1 degrees Centigrade above normal at 17.1C, the minimum up 3.2C at 12.5C, the mean temperature up 2.6C at 14.8 and the average sea temperature up 0.4C at 15.4C.